EMILY BOURKE: There's anger on Christmas Island after last Sunday's shipwreck that spilled fuel and phosphate over the island's coral reef.

Federal Police have now opened their own investigation into how the cargo ship broke from its moorings and smashed into rocks.

The MV Tycoon lies in shallow water in Flying Fish Cove and authorities say the environmental impact of the oil slick seems to be minimal.

But others suspect the situation is much worse than it appears.

David Weber reports.

DAVID WEBER: The WA Conservation Council says the western side of Flying Fish Cove appears to have escaped major damage.

But the council's Nic Dunlop says some oil has been found on the other side of the island.

NIC DUNLOP: Some of the impacts may - in terms of toxicity effects on corals - may take weeks, months or even longer to manifest themselves. And the only way they can be explored is with a robust monitoring program.

DAVID WEBER: Have the rough conditions helped break up the oil to the point where there may not be a great impact?

NIC DUNLOP: They may have also dispersed the oil to places where we aren't currently looking. The other thing of course that turbulent conditions will do is actually allow the materials to be mixed at a deeper depth than would otherwise be the case. And therefore we need to be looking down into the water column as well as what we're seeing on the surface and along the coastline at the moment.

DAVID WEBER: The Maritime Safety Authority says there doesn't appear to be any oil in the water.

But the authority's spokesman, Mal Larsen, says equipment has been flown to the island so that water quality can be tested.

MAL LARSEN: More bags of sand have been cleared. There's great community involvement in that process and there's relatively positive signs about the impact on the environment. And there's significant amounts of environment monitoring beginning to be occurring now from both the local population, park staff and some environmental specialists that have come onto the island.

DAVID WEBER: What's the likelihood that there may have been damage to coral underneath the water surface?

MAL LARSEN: Look I'm not able to speculate. That's quite possible, I mean oil did leak from the boat, from the ship. It's been very rough weather in the area up until the last day or so. So there hasn't been an ability to get boats out there to have a look or put divers down. So that's sort of what will happen in the near future.

DAVID WEBER: Has there been a fish kill?

MAL LARSEN: There were reports immediately after the incident that there were some dead fish sighted. I'm not aware if those samples were collected because there was a significant storm at that time. And as far as I know there hasn't been any sightings or reports of any fish since then.

Images

Click an image to enlarge

From the Archives

Around 500 Indigenous people fought in the First World War, and as many as 5,000 in the second. But many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander diggers who made it home received little or no recognition for their contribution. On Anzac Day, 2007, the first parade to commemorate their efforts and bravery was held in Sydney. Listen to our report from that day by Lindy Kerin.